Chess: How To Think Like Your Opponent
There’s a moment in many great games where nothing flashy happens. A pawn is moved. A bishop steps back. A rook shuffles slightly. But if you ask yourself the question: What was the opponent threatening, you realise: something just got prevented.
Prophylaxis in chess refers to the strategic practice of anticipating the opponent’s threats and counterplay, and neutralizing them before they become dangerous. The term is derived from the Greek word prophylaktikos, which means to guard in advance. It’s the art of prevention. It’s what happens when a player thinks not only about their own plans, but deeply about what the opponent wants to do—and subtly prevents it.
If you’ve ever played a game where you had a great position, everything was flowing, and then suddenly—it fell apart—you’ve probably missed a moment of prophylaxis.
Art of Anticipation
We can help ourselves to think prophylactically by asking the following questions to ourself during a game:
What is my opponent’s threat? and follow it up with the question:
Can I prevent it? As we get better at Chess, we can add a 3rd question to this process:
Do I need to prevent it? Afterall not all threats are critical and need to be prevented.
Understanding how, when and whether to apply Profilaxis is an important part of developing our game.
Profilaxis can be seen in every part of the game: the Opening, Middlegame and the Endgame. Infact, understanding this concept can help us understand several ideas in the opening better.
Diagram 1: White plays 4.a3 in the Queen’s Indian.
In the Petrosian System of the Queen’s Indian Defence (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3), White delays Nc3 to first prevent …Bb4, which would pin the knight and hinder an e4 push. This prophylactic idea of 4.a3 was pioneered by former World Champion Tigran Petrosian and later adopted by the Attacking Legend Garry Kasparov. Kasparov’s game against Ralf Akesson from the 1980 World Juniors and the 1982 game against Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf (the man who pioneered the most popular opening in chess: the Sicilian Najdorf!) both serve as model games for this opening setup!
In the Ruy Lopez / Spanish Opening, White’s main idea is to control the centre with the pawn advance c3, d4. However after the moves 8.c3 0-0, White first plays 9.h3 before going ahead with d4. This is because direct 9.d4 runs into 9…Bg4 which pins the f3 Knight and creates pressure on the White’s d4 pawn.
Diagram 2 : White’s 9.h3 is profilaxis against …Bg4
Although this is the main way to proceed with White, many players also opt for 9.d4 directly, allowing the positions with 9…Bg4. Thus, in many positions, whether to apply Profilaxis or not can be a matter of taste.
Anatoly Karpov vs. Wolfgang Unzicker, 1974 Olympiad, Nice.
A famous example of Profilaxis was played by the Strategy King Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov in his masterpiece against Unzicker during the 1974 Olympiad.
Diagram 3 : Position after 23…Qd8
Black’s last move, Qc7–d8, quietly threatens to seize the a-file with the maneuver …Ra2–Qa2 and Ra8. The Queen steps back to support the Rook on the back rank! Though White has more central space typical of the Ruy Lopez, and plans an eventual Kingside push with f4 or g4–h4, he must first prevent counterplay on the Queenside.
Karpov, sensing danger, played the stunning 24.Ba7!!—completely locking the a-file. This subtle, prophylactic move stopped Black’s idea cold and gave White time to build up on the Kingside, while keeping the option to later dominate the a-file on his own terms. A quiet move, but deeply brilliant.
Chess is Not a Monologue
As we have seen in our examples, Prophylaxis is not necessarily a defensive strategy. It is a pause that prevents our opponent’s plans while still allowing us to carry on with ours in the near future. The main elements of Prophylaxis are observation and empathy. What would I do if I were them? Where is their pressure building? Which pawn break or square shift is about to tilt the balance?
Most of us start out thinking chess is a game about our plans. We want to mate, to win material, to dominate. But as we grow, we realize: chess is not a monologue. It’s a conversation, a discussion, an argument that eventually turns into a duel. And if you’re only thinking about what you want, you’ll walk right into what your opponent wants. That’s why you’ll often see players rise from their seats and stand behind their opponent during the opponent’s move—to literally step into their shoes, to think from the other side, and be ready!
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